Edited byAnn-Christine Diaz,adiaz@creativity-online.comCreativity-Online.com has all the features of AdCritic.com, plus creative profiles, videos that gobehind the work and regularly updated news. Submit your choices for best ads to Ann-ChristineDiaz, Editor, Creativity, 711 Third Ave., New York, NY10017 or e-mail adiaz@creativity-online.com.

THINK OUTSIDE THE box. Let go. Take
a risk. Obviously, there’s some element of truth to the platitudes about
creativity and marketing. But really,
what does it take to come up with
truly innovative and effective ideas?
In Creativity/Advertising Age’s latest
Creativity Report, we talked to the
industry’s smartest brand and agency
leaders to pinpoint the most important
characteristics of highly creative—and
as a result, successful—marketers.

One of those, ironically, is that
“Creativity isn’t everything.” Those
words come straight from Domino’s
ly creative marketer, Heineken,
demonstrated this approach in its “Star
Player” campaign (see right), which,
along with the other efforts on this
page, is one of the fine specimens featured in The Creativity Report’s
roundup of the second quarter’s best
work.

Not only are they innovative ideas
all around, they’re the kind of solutions
that happen when the right creative
habits kick in.

“CREATIVITY ISN’T EVERYTHING.”Heineken‘StarPlayer’

AGENCY: AKQA, LONDON

The lesson from Domino’s Russell Weiner
also proved helpful for AKQA London when it
turned out one of the year’s most exciting
efforts, Heineken Star Player, a dual
screening effort that puts football fans in
competition with each other as they watch
matches on the tube, or at the stadium by
having them predict players’ next moves and
scores. The agency based its solution on real
consumer insight. AKQA Co-founder/Chief
Creative Officer James Hilton explained,
“Nobody’s going to the pubs to watch the
Champions League. Most of them are staying
at home to watch it on their own. People
aren’t connecting.” The game solved that
problem by letting players compete and
sound off with friends—from the comfort of
their own couches.

“TRY THINGS, LOTS OF THINGS.”DeutschePost‘SocialMemories’

AGENCY: COSALUX

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eight of them, at
least—and in-depth
storieson these
campaigns and other
breakthrough work
in the second issue of
The Creativity Report
series. Purchase this
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What business does a post office have launching a
Facebook book? Germany’s Deutsche Post could
have taken that fogey approach. But the brand’s
department of innovation wasn’t afraid of making
a digital leap with agency Cosalux. It found a way
to translate people’s Facebook activity into a book
full of gorgeous data-viz pieces showing how they
spent time on the social-networking site. “It
represented an opportunity to enter social media
with something grounded in the brand’s history;
it’s always been the bearer of people’s thoughts
and feelings on postcards and in letters, and
‘Social Memories’ is the digital extension of that,”
said Cosalux Art Director Stephen Horner.

“GET EVERYONE INVOLVED.”Wrigley5‘User-GeneratedProjectionMapping’

AGENCY: TRIBALDDB

Being a “team player” doesn’t just mean embracing talent
under your own roof. It’s also about inviting more of the right
people in. That kind of teamwork helped realize an unusual
projection-mapping effort out of Tribal DDB South Africa,
which invited users to create their own displays on digital
buildings online, and then later showcased on the real-world
structures during a pair of live events. Tribal DDB South Africa
Chief Creative Officer Matt Ross brought in digital production
shop North Kingdom and events company Seed Experiences
to help execute. “The model of having massive in-house
development teams within a full-service agency is dead,” Mr.
Ross said. “There is no way that a tech department can keep up
with all the tech advancements being made yearly.”